Aryna Sabalenka headlines Indian Wells as top seed

By SABC Sport
3rd March 2025

World number one Aryna Sabalenka is the top seed for her third consecutive WTA 1000 event of the 2025 season, while defending champion Iga Swiatek is seeded second.

Having been top of the WTA Rankings since last October, Sabalenka has been the No. 1 seed in all the events she has entered and it will be no different at the Indian Wells Open.

But it doesn't mean too much in terms of the draw as she could potentially face Australian Open champion Madison Keys in the quarter-final, world No. 3 Coco Gauff in the semi-final and Swiatek in the final.

This will be Sabalenka's fifth main draw appearance in Indian Wells, but she is yet to win the tournament with her best performance a run to the final in 2023 when she lost against Elena Rybakina.

Swiatek, meanwhile, beat Maria Sakkari in the final last year in what was a repeat of the 2022 showpiece match that was also won by the Pole.

Gauff, who lost in the semi-finals in 2024, is one of six American women who are seeded for the first leg of the Sunshine Double in California with Jessica Pegula (4), Keys (5) and Emma Navarro (8) also in the top 10. Danielle Collins (14) and Amanda Anisimova are the other two seeded Americans.

The Indian Wells Open will be Keys' first event since she won her maiden Grand Slam title by beating two-time champion Aryna Sabalenka in the Australian Open final.

The 30-year-old has been sidelined with a hamstring injury since lifting the biggest title of her career at the end of January, but she has managed to climb two spots in the rankings since that historic day as she currently sits a career-high No. 5 in the WTA Rankings.

Rising star Mirra Andreev, fresh from winning the WTA 1000 Dubai a fortnight ago, will enter the draw as the 11th seed.

Barbora Krejcikova is the only seeded player to withdraw and she was down to be No. 16 while Linda Noskova, former world No. 2 Ons Jabeur and Anna Kalinskaya occupy the final three seeded spots.

The 32-seeded players in all WTA 1000 96-player fields have byes into the second round.

Some other high-profile players in the draw who are not seeded include Emma Raducanu, Naomi Osaka, Belinda Bencic, Petra Kvitova, and Sloane Stephens.

Besides Swiatek and Rybakina (2023), Paula Badosa (2021), Osaka (2018) and Victoria Azarenka (2012 and 2016) are the other former champions in the main draw.